


From the Heart

by prototyping



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Prompt Fill, post-kh3, quick fic, you didn't really think it would ALL be happy did you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 14:57:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8537473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prototyping/pseuds/prototyping
Summary: Dance like nobody’s watching and she’s all that matters. Terra/Aqua.





	

“You still remember?”

Terra broke from his thoughts and looked at her. It was quiet out here now, empty except for the two of them and a couple guards at the top of the tall staircase. Their voices didn’t carry, so their conversation remained private.

When he didn’t answer right away, Aqua clarified, “How to dance. Well, ballroom dance. We learned, remember?”

He exhaled in a silent laugh, smiling slightly in recollection as he glanced around the courtyard. “That was a long time ago. But yeah, I remember.”

With a hum Aqua returned her gaze to the tall castle before them. It was a beacon of light in the evening darkness, its blue-white walls a dazzling reflection of both the lights shining within and the moon’s bright rays from above. Music escaped through the windows -- sometimes the trickle of soft wind instruments, at others the hearty charge of brass and string.

It was a tranquil darkness here, one she hadn’t known in a long, long time.

“How much?” she inquired, looking at her friend again. Terra was less than an arm’s length away on her right, sharing the fountain edge that they had both claimed for a seat.

“What? How much I remember?” He thought for a few heartbeats, and then finally gave a light shrug. “Enough to get by, I guess. Without embarrassing myself too much.”

A few more seconds passed, and then half a minute. Finally Aqua sighed, but it came with a smile. “You’re such a guy, Terra.”

“What?”

“Those were _hints_ , you know.”

He stared at her for another short pause. She held the look patiently, expectantly, and saw when the light clicked on in his head. “Oh,” he acknowledged, unperturbed. “Why didn’t you say so?”

She gave a quiet huff. “Can’t a girl feel a little old-fashioned? I wanted you to ask.”

Judging by his expression, Terra clearly didn’t comprehend the idea of such an impulse. Still, he smiled, but she recognized it as a teasing look. “Hey, how much do _you_ remember?”

“Enough,” Aqua echoed, giving him the same almost-smirk. “But unless you’ve been practicing with Ven in secret, I’m pretty sure you’re rustier than me.” She, meanwhile, had given their younger friend a few pointers on slow-dancing in the past, so she was arguably more up to date in her skills.

That made Terra snort quietly, but he stood up to move in front of her, where he held out a hand. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

Aqua’s smile quirked as she took it and let him help her to her feet. From the castle there came the long stretch of a beginning high note, a lone violin leading a new score for one, two, three beats before it was joined by half a dozen more.

She had to give Terra credit. He did remember to bow properly to her curtsy, and then kept his posture perfectly straight as he stepped toward her. His hand found her waist, hers his shoulder -- although there was a brief moment in which they both looked down to check their footing.

“I’ll lead,” Aqua offered. “Just at first.” Despite her teasing, she did want him to get back into the feel of it -- she wanted him to be comfortable.

“Got it,” he agreed. “Whenever you’re ready, expert.”

She grinned, by now having enough of a feel for the music’s beat to step confidently into rhythm with it. With a encouraging squeeze of her fingers, she stepped back and pulled him with her.

The two of them had fought together enough through the years to know one another’s style of movement. They may have stumbled and tumbled over one another many times as kids, but with each clumsy misstep had come experience. Whether side-by-side in a real battle or against one another during practice, they each knew the other’s habits just as well as personality. There was a certain level of predictability to it, allowing them to make general guesses at one another’s motions and move in sync. This was no different.

Rusty or not, Terra’s movements were no less confident than anything else he did. He followed close, his eyes on her face but focused. He was watching her arms and body in the corner of his vision, Aqua could tell, for hints of movement and direction, with just enough slack on his end to respond instantaneously to her every step and quickly follow.

She slowed down, nudging him gently with her elbow. “Hey,” she said cheerfully, “you can loosen up a little. This isn’t a training match.” That must have broken his concentration, because he blinked a couple times before reacting -- with a smile, and then she saw his broad shoulders relax a bit.

“All right. But no more going easy on me,” he challenged. “Let’s go.”

She obliged and picked up the pace. The dance was nothing fancy -- mostly swift footwork and full body spins, with the trickiest part having to maintain their properly rigid postures. More than once their knees knocked together with a chuckled apology. They would win no competition, Aqua figured, but that was perfectly all right.

After maybe a minute of getting into their rhythm, Aqua suddenly shifted her weight, loosening her hold on his hand and stepping in closer. Terra figured out her intention and took up the lead with hardly a hitch, and from there she trusted her direction to him and let him guide her every step and movement. He actually sped _up_ , to her surprise, taking them into a series of quick turns that had her really focusing to keep up with him -- but he never stumbled, never faltered. When the music swelled into a loud finish, Aqua couldn’t help laughing when they suddenly parted and he took her into a nimble twirl. They came together again -- just as the score ended.

Their quick breaths were audible now among the crickets and trickling of the fountain. Rather than let him off, Aqua only fell into a more casual stance and slipped both arms around his neck, her steps shifting to slow, brief, and simple sweeps. She was pleased when he matched her rhythm, his forearms coming to rest on her hips and his hands linked against the small of her back. “I’m glad you’re not rusty,” she told him. It earned a short laugh.

“Me, too.”

They fell silent after that, moving to their own slow beat while the distant orchestra started up again and a slower piece played on as background noise. Aqua broke their stance further, dropping eye contact to lean forward and touch her forehead to his chin. His steady breaths were warm against her hairline, comforting like his arms -- enough that she allowed her eyes to drift closed. She wasn’t paranoid by nature, even now, but there was always, always a certain level of discomfort these days where darkness was concerned. Despite the bright castle beside them, the edges of the courtyard were cast in deep shadow, something she had been intrinsically aware of this entire time. Her hard-earned instincts didn’t like having those shadows at her back, leaving her with a thin, unconscious layer of tension since she and Terra had arrived.

But now, it was all right. Now she could ignore them, forget them, even close her eyes and let the night press in on her more closely.

Maybe Terra had noticed. Maybe he felt some of that unease leave her. Maybe it was purely coincidence -- but she felt his arms cross slowly and gently over her back, more of an embrace than any kind of posture. She smiled and moved closer, foregoing the proper interpersonal space to settle against his chest, and forgot the darkness completely as she settled her cheek on his collarbone. She felt his heartbeat against her ear, even and strong and _his_. His hold on her tightened comfortably, maybe protectively -- and Aqua gave a quiet, grateful sigh when she felt him press a light kiss to her hair. Even after it ended, he lingered there.

She wasn’t sure when they stopped moving, or when they went from dancing to this silent, understanding exchange. She wasn’t sure if Terra knew how much these gestures meant to her, but she suspected that he did. It was much more like him to prove it with actions over words. That was how he’d always been -- and she wouldn’t change him for anything.

_You really are such a guy, Terra._

And among so much else, she loved him for it.


End file.
